This came a little late due to some delays with the engraving process but Heather bought a “Marquis by Waterford Vintage Hour Glass Decanter” for me with my initials. I think it’s beautiful and of course a great place to drink whiskey that I plan on consuming quickly (aka, the cheap stuff). I did some research and found an article on the Nibble: Quoted below –

After centuries of enjoying beautiful lead crystal at table, it has recently come under the scrutiny of health authorities, who were testing paint and other products as possible sources of lead poisoning. Preliminary tests have shown that, over time, significant amounts of lead can migrate from lead crystal containers into liquids stored in them.

One research team measured the amount of lead migration in Port wine that was stored in lead crystal decanters. After two days, lead levels were 89 micrograms; after four months, lead levels were between 2,000 and 5,000 micrograms.

White wine doubled its lead content within an hour of storage, and tripled it within four hours.

Brandy stored in lead crystal for five years had lead levels around 20,000 micrograms.

Any liquid can leach lead from crystal just as effectively as wine and other alcoholic beverages.

To put these numbers into perspective, the EPA’s lead standard for drinking water is 50 micrograms per liter.

So, I’ll store things in here but not some rare Rye whiskey that I plan on drinking slowly over the course of 6 months. I usually can drink a 750ML of Bourbon in 7-10 days so I’ll stick the cheap stuff. Here are a few photos:

Maybe it’s good that I indicate that I found the article after pouring a half consumed liter of Macallan Select Oak in the decenter. Oh well, bottoms up!